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on the table for the public to chew on .......
Censure, to me, is simply not enough. Impeachment is. But right now, with Dems being in a serious minority position, putting either or both on the table can serve only one purpose.
Maybe.
That would be to get John and Jane Q to chew on it. Let them get used to the idea. Let it steep like a nice oolong or darjeeling.
In the end, however, censure is simply too little. If ever there was a reason to impose an impeachment trial on a president, the track record of George W. Bush is that reason. High Crimes and Misdemeanors, indeed. And treason and sedition (do some research if you don't know what the latter word means).
But censure? Nope. All it does is weaken the presidency. I know. Bush needs to be weakened. I agree. But not at the cost of weakening the country by having to live with a weakened, but still sitting leader. No, what needs to happen is his removal.
I was in favor of Gerry Ford's pardon of Nixon. To have the sword of Damocles hanging over a former US president was, to me, at the time, abhorrent, particularly in view of what Nixon did (and didn't). The fact is, Nixon resigned. He was gone. Out of power. And that was the goal. More would have been revenge, pure and simple. And when is revenge, really, ever a good thing? You may feel good about it for a while, but in the end, it is false feel-good. Doing the right thing - and no more - is so much more satisfying. To say nothing of just plain being right.
But George W. Bush is no Richard Nixon. He will cling, white knuckled, to the Oval Office's desk. You'll have to grab him by the ankles and try to yank him out. And even then, you're likely to, at best, yank off his pants, right over his tacky alligator cowboy boots.
No, George Bush will never do the right thing. So we the people need to do it.
Besides, what Bush has done in his term - just so far - is so far and away worse than anything Nixon ever did. Anything. Ever.
Bush is, arguably, a war criminal. Nixon? Nope. Bush, arguably, has committed crimes against humanity. Nixon? Not on his worst day.
Removal.
It is the right course.
Even if it happens in the last month of his presidency. We need to show the world we have the resolve to remove our own dictator before we can expect respect for our world views.
If the impeachment leads to his further prosecution by the world court, so be it. I would not have wanted to see Nixon go on trial for what, by comparison, are petty crimes.
But censure? Sorry. It is just not enough for me. But for Sen. Feingold to have put it out there and gotten the debate started? That's a good thing. Just don't let it be the story in and of itself. The media will use it as a device to paint us as loons. Just let it sit and fester until we have the power to do something tangible with it.
Like impeach.
This is not horseshoes or quail hunting. Close just won't get it.
Go for the gonads or go not at all.
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